What pet is best for solo tanking in BFA?

I love the core hound... especially for aoe pack pulls. Molten hide is a pretty sweet ability for helping to dps em down. For large single target fights, such as 122 WQ rares, I think the clefthoof pets are the best. But either way a ferocity pet with a damage reduction talent will get the job done 90% of the time.
Without a doubt Celfthooves are the best tanks. They have access to:

Thick Hide: When falling below 40% health, the Clefthoof's skin will thicken, granting 60% reduced incoming damage for 15 sec

Blood of the Rhino: The Clefthoof has 10% additional armor and increases the effectiveness of healing received by 20%.

Predator's Thirst: You and your pet gain 10% Leech.

Primal Rage: Increases haste by 30% for all party and raid members for 40 sec.

It passively reduces damage on low health, gets healed for more, has more health in general, and heals itself for more due to it having leech. It is the best tanking pet.
3 Likes
i think there is a strong argument for clefthoof and i went out of the way to tame one myself....

...but i use corehound and think that is the right answer to this question. The molten hide is amazing for AoE DPS and holding aggro, and they just plain rock.

Corehound!!
08/27/2018 04:00 PMPosted by Aaria
I am having trouble keeping my (supposedly tanking) pets alive in solo pve with 2 or 3 enemies hitting on it. There doesn't seem to be a big difference between tenacity and ferocity in terms of tanking & surviving ability , while cunning doesn't seem to be able to tank at all. Are there specific animals that make better tanking pets? I know I didn't have that problem during Legion ..


Clefthoof and Core Hounds for Beast Mastery spec.

Scalehides for Marksman and Survival ( I love my scalehide, though).

I don't know why people keep suggesting Spirit Beasts. I'll take them through a dungeon or raid, but World Bosses just step on them.
08/27/2018 04:00 PMPosted by Aaria
I am having trouble keeping my (supposedly tanking) pets alive in solo pve with 2 or 3 enemies hitting on it. There doesn't seem to be a big difference between tenacity and ferocity in terms of tanking & surviving ability , while cunning doesn't seem to be able to tank at all. Are there specific animals that make better tanking pets? I know I didn't have that problem during Legion ..


Survival spec you legit just use a ferocity pet because your going to be leeching so much hp off mobs it's ridiculous
09/09/2018 07:54 AMPosted by Darkynhalvos
08/27/2018 11:18 PMPosted by Duskraven
Been using a corehound. Any ferocity pet with a damage shield is pretty spot on and will outperform a tenacity pet any day of the week.


Just remember, clefthooves have Blood of the Rhino, which means they take 10% less physical dmg, and they also take extra healing.

No other pet in the game has that ability.


Just a correction (no offence), 10% armour doesnt factor into 10% less physical damage...

just saying.
I use a rhino named Adorabull...
Its clefthoof family.

I've been able to solo BfA rares for world quests without issue using him, as well Legion content like: Greater Invasions, normal raids and mythic dungeons.
1 Like
09/09/2018 01:35 AMPosted by Tergrukan
I think it all depends on what u want to achieve really.

Personally i used a bear or Arcturis (yes im a fat race who like fat pets) and they're fine.

I did bit of switching pets in and out from stables for pets utilities to bring along during questing due to BFA pet revamps, and have been testing on who is the best tank.

A. Do you need specific utility to counter a crucial make or break mechanism?

Yes - Use it unless the damage reduction outweighs the mechanism's challenge.
No - Go B.

B. How hard does the mob hit?

If it's hard (potentially killing the pet or bursty), go C.
If its not (sustainable by mend pet or close), go D.

C. How long is the duration of the fight?

If it's short (<1min), Quillen/Bear/Oxen.
if it's long (1min+), go E.

D. Will you take damage? (aoe or alternate targeting spell)

Yes - Spirit Beast/Clefthoof
No - go F.

E. Does the damage consist mainly physical?

Yes - Krolusk
No - Any of Quillen, bear, oxen, krolusk, turtle or beetle.

F. Does it involve fast attacking melee or multiple melee crowd mob?

Yes - Corehound/Feathermane/Dragonhawk/Toad
No - Any pet will do the job.

Just my 2 cents. Hope that helps. In truth, it really doesnt make much difference, most pet can get the job done, unless u need more than just a pet that is hard to die and good at surviving/self sustaining. I believe the above chart would apply to even solo outdated raids.


I kneel and beg for forgiveness.

I regret every single thing i said here lol.

After using a cleft hoof for prolong period questing after hitting 120, i can safely say that nothing beat them, not krolusk, not spirit beast, not quillen, not anything. Unless u do lvl 120+ elite, or else u wun even see their health drop.

For packs i have difficulty to even sustain on krolusk and quilen even with mend pet, my cleft hoof just stay there full health like a thug.

I am so sorry for the noob comment. i totally haven't test him on high lvl content where it matters lol
6 Likes
Shoot some of you should play a lock. There tanks get hit 2 or 3 times there dead.

I never had an issue with hunter pet as a tank. a ton of mobility, cc and pet heals are pretty OP compared to lock as well.

granted less fun (for me anyway) but very survivable.
1 Like
Clefthoof by way far period.
1 Like
Arcturis, god of the spirit beasts.

I had Tryed taming Fenryr but he never spawned in the cave after i killed him, why is that?

Depend on what you are tanking. If you are tanking 1 elite or boss that doesnā€™t dish out a ton off damage then go with a turtles. If you are tanking a bunch of trash then go with a core hound. Core hound deals a good amount off AoE damage and have great defensive ability cd with Primal rage and Leech.

Clefthoove and scalehide are in between those two option. You canā€™t go wrong with them too.

spirit bear

A spirit bear is a part of the spirit beast on tenacity tree. One spirit beast to another is no difference in ability. Spirit beast are cool looking creatures but theyā€™re not the best pet tank.

Iā€™d go so far as to say Scalehide are great for BM as well its what i used to get to 120 my Kodo took whatever i threw at it and didnā€™t flinch and i was pulling 4 to 6 at a time but cleft is really good as well i just think the Scalehides kill faster might just be me tho.

Corehounds are better for BM than scalehides.

1 Like

^
core hounds are great they get a shield like turtles do and if they get attacked they do damage back.

That damage is AoE too.

1 Like

Based on titleā€¦ā€œbest for solo tankingā€

Clefthoof.

-edit-
To help show why.

  1. by default with a Ferocity pet, you get Primal Rage and Predatorā€™s Thirst.
    Rage is your Bloodlust, whatever.
    Thirst gives you and your pet leech. So not only do you heal yourself, you pet heals themselves.

  2. They have Thick Hide spell. In my opinion (and havent looked over ALL the pets in recent times) this is a spell normally (or what you would guess to find) only on ā€œtank classā€ pets. So in my mind, you have a tanking ability on a ā€œdps petā€.

  3. They also have Blood of the Rhino which gives more armor (damage reduction) and bonus to healing, which in turn will up their default leech and you Mend Pet spell.

  4. now start combining these things.
    For example: My pet has 10% leech that is boosted slightly (and he gives me leech) and my heal heals him for more than other pets. He takes less damage due and if he takes too much damage, he has a ā€œshellā€. Stack stuff like this with using multishot or barbed with stomp, now your pet is AOEing with a boosted leech. Things get diceyā€¦pop BW and with AOE he heals himself to full pretty damn fast.

With all of thatā€¦there are not even ā€œtank specā€ pets that can handle damage / healing the way a clefthoof can.

I used to run the turtle all the timeā€¦all he had was the shell ability, that the celfthoof has. The turtle doesnt have damage reduction, it doesnt leech, it doesnt take bonus from healing.

In the end, I think the sustain of the Clefthoof far outweighs any ā€œtankā€ pet from my experience.

4 Likes